Wal-Mart toe sucking suspect Michael Anthony Brown, 31, has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault in connection with an incident at a North Carolina Wal-Mart on St. Patrick’s Day.
A Wal-Mart in Lincolnton, NC, was the location for this bizarre encounter. Brown approached the victim Erika Porras, 37, in the shoe department at the local Wal-Mart. It appears that Brown was pretending to be a podiatry student, an elaborate ruse designed to gain access to the feet and toes of unsuspecting female victims. In this case, the accused convinced Porras that he was in training to become a foot doctor and could assist with her shoe selection. Porras described what happened next:
“When I stretched out my foot and started moving, he grabbed my foot and started licking it. I said, ‘What’s happening, what’s wrong with you?’ He said, ‘If you forgive me I’ll buy your groceries but please don’t tell anybody’.”
At one point during the toe-sucking incident, Brown even photographed the victim’s feet. After the encounter, Pollas did approach employees at the Wal-Mart, and surveillance video of the suspect eventually led to his arrest on Thursday night.
According to Detective Dennis Harris, Brown had used a similar method at another Wal-Mart on the same day, this time under the guise of a survey taker comparing the feet and toes of multiple ethnicities. In this case, the victim did take off her shoes, but become suspicious and fled the scene after being asked to remove her socks.
Brown’s interest in feet and toe sucking is not a recent development. The accused is registered as a sex offender due to a 2001 incident in which he was charged and convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and sucking on her toes.
Sadly, this is not the first recorded instance of toe sucking at Wal-Mart. Back in 2012, Joey Leaphart, 43, was accused of sucking the toes of an 18-year old woman at a Georgia Wal-Mart. Leaphart was also a registered sex offender, and based on his criminal history had a very specific interest in feet and toes. In this case, the victim was led to believe the request was part of a prank for America’s Funniest Home Videos. Leaphart was ultimately not charged with a crime in the incident, but apparently continued to approach women at various Wal-Mart locations.
Brown is currently being held on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 4 th .
[Image via Lincolnton Police Department/Wal-Mart]
[Video courtesy of AssociatedPress/You Tube]
